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Patriot Excellence Vodka

The Patriot Excellence is a French Vodka which was brought into my local by Paul Charabin of PB Beverages, an Alberta based company which imports and distributes a wide selection of spirits from around the world. The Vodka is filtered six times, and is made from a blend of 100% natural grain spirits and pure spring water. As well it is advertised as an exceptional vodka with an elegant, ideal, and smooth taste. I plan to have a little fun determining whether this particular Vodka can live up to its promotion.

The First Impression 9.5/10

I think that the marketing people have made some interesting decisions to market the French heritage of the Vodka in a manner which will target North America (actually the United States). The Statue of Liberty which is featured prominently was a gift of international friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States. It is a symbol readily identified as American, yet like the Vodka it was made in France.

As well the style of the bottle is reminiscent of Grey Goose another french Vodka. I believe the makers of Patriot Excellence are purposefully drawing a comparison between their Vodka and Grey Goose. Interestingly Grey Goose is also a French Vodka made for the American audience.

The First Sip 18.5/20

I had invited three other persons to taste the Patriot with me as part of a flight of five Vodkas which were enjoyed on a Sunday Afternoon in Late July. I served each Vodka blind such that only I knew what we were tasting. (The spirits were chilled to about 2 degrees Celsius before we began.) When I poured out the samples of Patriot Vodka into each shot glass for my guests it was obvious right from the beginning that the Vodka was going to be a hit with everyone. It was creamy, and displayed a clean aroma and mouth-feel that my tasting group has only experienced in the very best of Vodkas.

Taking a Shot 18.5/20

The first full swallow of Patriot Excellence was very nice. The vodka displays a little ‘pop’ in the mouth with some grain spices and goes down absolutely smoothly with no burn and no unpleasant aftertaste. I sense some light starchy wheat flavour as the spirit goes down but the flavour is fleeting and is perhaps just a ghost of my imagination. The clean mouth-feel continues to impress all of my guests (and myself). After the swallow of Vodka is consumed, a warm pleasant glow is apparent in my throat.

Out for Dinner 19/20

The thing with a nice clean Vodka is how it will cleanse the palate between bites of food. My friends brought an assortment of sausages, pickles, buns with cheese, and bite sized veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, and celery). The idea is to take a bite of food, follow it with a swallow of Vodka and decide if the food tastes better when paired with Vodka. In the case of the Patriot, everything was tasting better. There were no bitter aftertaste nor any metallic flavours translating to either the food or the vodka. This is about as good as it gets.

Cocktails 27.5/30

The clean smooth taste of the Patriot Excellence Vodka is very good in cocktails. The Cosmopolitan I built was tart and lightly sweet with the flavours of the fruit really popping in the drink. (A Cosmo is easy to make and I have found that a good vodka will make a nice tart fruity drink. And this is exactly what you get with the patriot Excellence Vodka). It also worked well in every other Vodka cocktail I made during subsequent tasting sessions (thePink Pussy Cat, the Vodka Daiquiri, and the Vodka Darby).

Rustic Breeze

Pour the Vodka the juice and the raspberry syrup into a metal shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker frosts
Strain and pour into a chilled cocktail glass
Add a splash of Soda
Complete by expressing the oils from a slice lemon peel on top of the cocktail

0-25 A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49 Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59 You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69 Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74 Now we have a fair mixing Vodka. Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79 You may begin to serve this to friends, again for cocktails only.
80-84 We begin to enjoy this Vodka in shots, although cocktails are preferable.
85-89 Excellent! Shots or cocktails!
90-94 You may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+ I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal scale as follows: